1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus which in particular may be applied as a copier or an MFP (Multi-Function Peripheral) for instance.
2. Background Information
In coping by a copier, an MFP or the like, a sheet of printing paper would go through a first feeding process and a second feeding process. In the first feeding process, the printing paper would first be transferred from a paper cassette up to a registration roller. In the second feeding process, the printing paper would be transferred from the registration roller to an exit roller while going through a printing process.
In conventional art, in case of conducting a normal copying process, there are several possible means which have been applied to in order to accelerate a first copying speed (e.g. Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 6-102727 (hereinafter to be referred to as Patent Reference 1) and Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 2000-2558415 (hereinafter to be referred to as Patent Reference 2)). One means is to go ahead with the first paper feeding process, while scanning a manuscript and without waiting the scanning process of the manuscript to be finished by transmitting a print start event (i.e. a first paper feeding start request) from a scanner to a printing controller and then transmitting the first paper feeding start request from the printing controller to a paper feeder controller. Another means is to accelerate a transmitting speed in the first paper feeding.
On the other hand, in case of conducting a graphics editing process such as a scaling process, a rotating process and the like using the scanner, problems such as processing time for graphics editing becoming unstable and so forth may occur. In order to solve further possible problems caused by the problems as mentioned above, in the conventional art, as shown in FIG. 1, it is arranged such that the print start event (i.e. the first paper feeding start request) is transmitted from the scanner (1) to the printing controller (2) at the timing meeting completions of the manuscript scanning process and graphics editing process, and then the first paper feeding start request is transmitted from the printing controller (2) to the paper feeder controller (3). Moreover, it is arranged such that deciding the timing of the second paper feeding is completely entrusted to the paper feeder controller (3).
As mentioned above, in the conventional image forming apparatus, in case of conducting a graphics editing process such as a scaling process, a rotating process and the like using the scanner (1), the print start event is transmitted from the scanner (1) to the printing controller (2) at the timing meeting completions of the manuscript scanning process and graphics editing process. Therefore, in case of conducting a copying process which accompanies a graphics editing process, it is noted as a problem that the first copying speed will drop considerably as compared to the case of a normal copying process where the print start event is transmitted from the scanner (1) to the printing controller (2) while scanning the manuscript.
In view of the above, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art from this disclosure that there exists a need for an improved image forming apparatus. This invention addresses this need in the art as well as other needs, which will become apparent to those skilled in the art from this disclosure.